General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) and Chrysler were approved $13.4 billion in bailout funds on Friday from the Bush Administration and another $3.29 billion from the Canadian and Ontario governments for their Canadian subsidiaries. Now, a hard part would be talks with the United Auto Workers union, which are supposed to start in January. Now doubt, they will ask for some tough concessions so that they could present cost cuts and qualify for a second round of loans in February. GM shares declined over 7% in premarket trade. GM shares tanked nearly 17% by midday trading.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) announced Friday it is bidding $2.8 billion to acquire Chilean grocer Distribucion y Servicio D&S SA (NYSE: DYS), or about 41 cents a share, a 33% premium to DYS's close on Thursday. Santiago-based D&S is Chile's largest grocery chain, with more than 140 locations. It posted net income of 52.7 billion pesos ($82.9 million) last year, up 24% from 2006. Chile, as one of the healthiest economies in Latin America, is amazingly expected to continue expanding this year despite the global economic downturn. WMT traded higher by midday.
Reporting today are:
Walgreen (NYSE: WAG), which is expected to report fiscal first-quarter earnings of 46 cents a share, according to FactSet Research, and Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), which is expected to report third quarter earnings of 17 cents a share.
WAG shares traded 5% lower after reporting lower earnings in its first quarter. RHT shares also traded 5% lower ahead of its earnings report.
WAG shares traded 5% lower after reporting lower earnings in its first quarter. RHT shares also traded 5% lower ahead of its earnings report.
American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) and its subsidiaries had their long-term ratings lowered to A from A+, and A-1 short-term ratings affirmed, by Standard & Poor's. The outlook is negative. AXP shares traded 2.9% lower by midday trading.
Infineon Technologies AG (NYSE: IFX), Europe's second-largest maker of semiconductors, rose over 13% in premarket trading after spun-off Qimonda (NYSE: QI), the distressed German memory chip maker, received a 325 million-euro ($456 million) loan. IFX still has a 77.5% stake in Qimonda. QI shares soared over 83% on the news. IFX shares traded 10% higher and QI shares 60% higher by midday trading.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-30-2008 @ 9:46AM
Dean said...
I don't like when a company like Credit Suisse downgrades GM when you look at
Credit Suisse yearly return it is -58.00 I down grade Credit Suisse who the Hzzz do they think they are.